Day 80 — Weeping With Us
John 11:32-35
When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept.
If you don’t know, I’m one of our Gas Street Kids Pastors. Now I hope this isn’t a terrible reflection on that but I seem to spend quite a lot of time comforting crying two year olds who don't want to stay in Gas Street Kids. I promise I’m very caring, but also I do know that in about 90 minutes their parents will return and all will be well with the world again. Therefore I confess that sometimes I do find myself saying things like, ‘Let’s stop crying now, Daddy promised he’ll come back it a bit’.
I shouldn’t do that. I’m sorry.
But honestly Jesus in this moment has every right to do that. He has every right to say to Mary and Martha, ‘Let’s stop crying now, I promised I’ll raise your brother again’. Yet we see quite the opposite. In a beautiful example of Jesus’ divinity and humanity, we see that Jesus cries with them.
Jesus knew what he was going to do, he knew how it was gong to end and yet he sits there and he cries with them and then goes on to do exactly what he's said he’ll do and resurrects Lazarus.
I imagine Mary and Martha just looking at Jesus and being like, ‘Hold on a minute, why did we spend all that time crying?’.
But that’s the thing. The end was good and Jesus had a plan, but the pain was still there. Jesus’ promises, his presence, his faithfulness, and his goodness didn’t mean the pain didn't exist.
And instead what we see is a God who cries with us. He can change everything, he has that power, and yet he still empathises, he cries with us, he sits with us in our pain, and he feels it too.
Prayer - Jesus, thank you that you have the power to transform situations and yet you don’t deny the pain we feel. As we bring you our hurts, our worries and our pain, we ask that you sit with us today.
Martha Goshawk
Gas Street Team